t 

,S3* 


AMERICAN   IMPERIALISM'^^ 


THE  CONVOCATION  ADDRESS    DELIVERED  ON    THE 
OCCASION  OF   THE  T\VENT\ -SEVENTH    CONVO- 
CATION OF   THE    UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO. 


BY 


THE  HON  CARL  SCHURZ, 


JANUARY  4,   i899. 


AMERICAN    IMPERIALISM. 


The  Convocation  Address,  delivered  on  the  occasiofi  of 

the  Tzventy-sevcnth  Convocation!  of  the  University 

of  Chicago,  January  ^,   i8gg. 


BY    THE    HON.     CARL    SCHURZ. 


Y  inviting  me   to  address  its  faculty,  its  students, 

and  its  friends  upon  so  distinguished  an  occasion, 

the  University  of  Chicago  has  done  me  an  honor  for 
which  I  am  profoundly  grateful.  I  can  prove  that 
gratitude  in  no  better  way  than  by  uttering  with  entire 
frankness  my  honest  convictions  on  the  great  subxct 
you  have  given  me  to  discuss — a  subject  fraught  with 
more  momentous  consequence  than  any  ever  submitted 
to  the  judgment  of  the  American  people  since  the  foun- 
dation of  our  constitutional  government. 

It  is  proposed  to  embark  this  republic  in  a  course  of 
imperialistic  policy  by  permanently  annexing  to  it  cer- 
tain islands  taken,  or  partly  taken,  from  Spain  in  the 
late  war.  The  matter  is  near  its  decision,  but  not  yet 
decided.  The  peace  treaty  made  at  Paris  is  not  yet 
ratified  by  the  Senate;  but  even  if  it  were,  the  question 
whether  those  islands,  although  ceded  by  Spain,  shall 
be  permanently  incorporated  in  the  territory  of  the 
United  States  would  still  be  open  for  final  determina- 
tion by  Congress.   As  an  open  question  therefore  I  shall 

discuss  it.  •  1        J 

If  ever,  it  behooves  the  American  people  to  think  and 
act  with  calm  deliberation,  for  the  character  and  future 
of  the  republic  and  the  welfare  of  its  people  now  living 
and  yet  to  be  bom  are  in  unprecedented  jeopardy.  To 
from  a  candid  judgment  of  what  this  republic  has  been, 


what  it  may  become,  and  what  it  ought  to  be,  let  us 
first  recall  to  our  minds  its  condition  before  the  recent 
Spanish  War. 

Our  government  was,  m  the  words  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  "the  government  of  the  people,  by  the 
people,  and  for  the  people."  It  was  the  noblest 
ambition  of  all  true  Americans  to  cany  this  demo- 
cratic government  to  the  highest  degree  of  pei"- 
fection  and  justice,  m  probity,  in  assured  peace,  ii\ 
the  security  of  human  rights,  in  progressive  civilization , 
to  solve  the  problem  of  popular  self-government  on  the 
grandest  scale.  a':d  thus  to  make  this  republic  the  ex- 
ample and  guiding  star  of  m-nkind. 

We  had  invited  the  oppressed  of  ail  nations  to  find 
shelter  here,  and  to  enjoy  with  us  the  blessings  of  free 
institutions.  They  came  by  the  millions.  Some  were 
not  so  welcome  as  others,  but  under  the  assimilating 
force  of  American  life  in  our  temperate  climate,  v/hich 
stimulates  the  v/orking  energies,  nurses  the  spirit  of 
orderly  freedom,  and  thus  favors  the  growth  of  democ- 
racies, they  became  good  Americans,  most  in  the  first, 
all  in  the  following  generations.  iVnd  so  with  all  the 
blood- crossings  caused  by  the  motley  immigration,  we 
became  a  substantially  homogeneous  people,  united  by 
common  political  beliefs  and  ideals,  by  common  inter- 
ests, laws,  and  aspicHtions — in  one  v/oid,  a  nation.  In- 
deed, we  were  not  without  our  dilficulties  and  embar- 
rassments, but  only  one  of  them,  tlie  race  antagonism 
between  the  negroes  and  the  whites,  especially  v\rh.eve 
the  negroes  live  in  mass,  presents  a  problem  which  so 
far  has  batifled  all  efforts  at  practical  solution  in  har- 
mony with  the  spirit  of  our  tree  institutions,  and  thus 
threatens  complications  of  a  grave  character. 

We  gloried  m  the  marvellous  growth  of  our  popula- 
tion, wealth,  pov/er,  and  civilization,  and  in  the  incal- 
culable richness  of  the  resources  of  our  country,  capable 
of  harboring  three  times  our  present  population,  and 
of  immeasurable  further  material  development.  Our 
commerce  with  the  world  abroad,  although  we  had  no 
colonies,    and  but  a  tnuall  navy,  spread  with  unprece- 


aentecl  rapidity.  captur:::u:  one  icrcigr,  r/.a,rk.er  afcer  an- 
other, not  only  for  the  products  of  onr  fanns,  but  also 
■"or  many  of  those  of  our  manuiacturine  iriclriscries,  wiih 
i-rospect  of  indefinite  extension. 

Pe?.ce  reigned  within  our  borders,  and  there  was  not 
the  faintest  shadow  of  danger  of  foreign  attack.  Our 
voice,  whenever  we  chose  to  speak  in  the  councils  of 
nations,  was  listened  to  w^ith  respect,  even  the  mightiest 
sea-power  en  occasion  yielding  to  us  a  deference  far 
beyond  its  habit  in  its  intercourse  with  others.  We 
were  considered  ultimately  invincible,  if  not  invul- 
nerable, in  our  continental  stronghold.  It  was  our 
boast,  nor  that  we  possessed  great  and  costly  armies 
and  navies,  but  that  we  did  not  need  any.  This  excep- 
tional blessing  was  our  pride,  as  it  was  the  envy  of  the 
world.  We  looked  down  with  pitying  sympathy  on 
other  nations  which  submissively  groaned  under  the 
burden  of  constantly  increasing  armaments,  and  v,'e 
praised  our  good  fortune  for  having  saved  us  from  so 
wretched  a  fate. 

Such  was  our  condition,  such  our  beliefs  and  ideals, 
such  our  ambition  and  our  pnde,  but  a  short  year  ago. 
Had  the  famous  peace  message  of  the  Czar  of  Russia, 
w^ith  its  protest  against  growing  militarism  and  its  plea 
for  disarmament,  reached  us  then,  it  would  have  been 
hailed  with  enthusiasm  by  every  American  as  a  triumph 
of  our  example.  We  might  have  claimed  only  that  to 
our  republic,  and  not  to  the  Russian  monarch,  belonged 
the  place  of  leadership  in  so  great  an  onward  step  in  the 
progress  of  civilization. 

Then  came  the  Spanish  War.  A  few  vigorous  blows 
laid  the  feeble  enemy  helpless  at  our  feet.  The  whole 
scene  seemed  to  have  suddenly  changed.  According  to 
the  solemn  proclamation  of  our  government,  the  war 
had  been  imdertaken  solely  for  the  liberation  of  Citba, 
as  a  war  of  humanity  and  not  of  conquest.  But  our 
easy  victories  had  put  conquest  within  our  reach,  and 
Avhen  our  arms  occupied  foreign  territory,  a  loud  de- 
mand arose  that,  pledge  or  no  pledge  to  the  contrary,  the 
conquests    should    be    kept,    even    the    Philippines  on 


the  other  side  or  the  globe,  and  that  as  to  Cuba  herself, 
independence  would  only  be  a  provisional  formality. 
Why  not  ?  was  the  cry.  Has  not  the  career  of  the  re- 
public almost  from  its  very  beginning  been  one  of  ter- 
ritorial expansion  ?  Has  it  not  acquired  Louisiana, 
Florida,  Texas,  the  vast  countries  that  came  to  us 
through  the  Mexican  War,  and  Alaska,  and  has  it  not 
digested  them  well  ?  Were  not  those  acquisitions  much 
larger  than  those  now  in  contemplation  ?  If  the  re- 
public could  digest  the  old,  v,'hy  not  the  new  ?  What 
is  the  difference  ? 

Only  look  with  an  unclouded  eye,  and  you  will  soon 
discover   dift'erences    enough    warning-  you  to  beware 
There  are  five  of  decisive  importance. 

1.  All  the  former  acqusitions  were  on  this  continent, 
and,  excepting  Alaska,  contigious  to  our  borders. 

2.  They  were  situated,  not  in  the  tropical,  but  in  the 
temperate  zone,  where  democratic  institutions  thrive, 
and  where  our  people  could  migrate  in  mass. 

3.  They  were  but  very  thinly  peopled — in  fact,  with- 
out any  population  that  would  have  been  in  the  way  o€ 
new  settlement. 

4.  They  could  be  organized  as  territories  in  the  usual 
manner,  with  the  expectation  that  they  would  presently 
come  into  the  Union  as  self-governing  states  with  popu- 
lations substantially  homogeneous  to  our  own. 

5.  They  did  not  require  a  material  increase  of  our 
army  or  navy,  ei'her  for  their  subjection  to  our  rule  or 
for  their  defense  against  any  probable  foreign  attack 
provoked  by  their  being  in  our  possession. 

Acquisitions  of  that  nature  we  might,  since  the  slav- 
ery trouble  has  been  allayed,  make  indefinitely  without 
in  any  dangerous  degree  imperiling  our  great  experi- 
ment of  democratic  institutions  on  the  grandest  scale  ; 
without  putting  the  peace  of  the  republic  in  jeopardy, 
and  without  depriving  us  of  the  inestimable  privilege  of 
comparative  unarmed  security  on  a  compact  continent 
which  may,  indeed,  by  an  enterprising  enemy,  be 
scratched  on  our  edges,  but  is  with  a  people  like  ours,  vir- 
tually impregnable.     Piven  of  our  far  away  Alaska  it 


can  be  said  that,  although  at  present  a  possession  of 
doubtful  value,  it  is  at  least  mainly  on  this  continent 
and  may  at  some  future  time,  when  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Eritish  possessions  happily  wish  to  unite  with  us,  be 
within  our  uninterrupted  boundaries. 

Compare  now  with  our  old  acquisitions  as  to  all  these 
important  points  those  at  present  in  view. 

They  are  not  continental,  not  contiguous  to  our 
present  domain,  but  beyond  seas,  the  Philippines  many 
thousand  miles  distant  from  our  coast.  They  are  all 
situated  in  the  tropics,  where  people  of  the  northern 
races,  such  as  Anglo-Saxons,  or,  generally  speaking, 
people  of  Germanic  blood,  have  never  migrated  in 
mass  to  stay;  and  they  are  more  or  less  densely  popu- 
lated, parts  of  them  as  densely  as  Massachusetts — their 
populations  consisting  almost  exclusively  of  races  to 
whom  the  tropical  climate  is  congenial — Spanish  Cre- 
oles mixed  with  negroes  in  the  \\  est  Indies,  and  Ma- 
lays, Tagals,  Filipinos,  Chinese,  Japanese,  Negritos,  and 
Tarious  more  or  less  barbarous  tribes  in  the  Philippines. 

When  the  question  is  asked  whether  we  may  hope 
to  adapt  those  countries  and  populations  to  our  system 
of  government,  the  advocates  of  annexation  answer 
cheerily,  that  v/hen  they  belong  to  us,  we  shall  soon 
"Americanize"  them.  This  may  mean  that  Ameri 
cans  in  sufficiently  large  numbers  will  migrate  there  to 
determine  the  character  of  those  populations  so  as  to 
assimilate  them  to  our  own. 

This  is  a  delusion  of  the  first  magnitude.  We  shall, 
mdeed,  be  able,  if  we  go  honestly  about  it,  to  accomplish 
several  salutary  things  in  those  countries.  But  one  thing 
we  cannot  do.  We  cannot  strip  the  tropical  climate  ot 
those  qualities  which  have  at  all  times  deterred  men  of 
the  northern  races,  to  which  we  belong,  from  migrating 
to  such  countries  in  mass,  and  to  make  their  homes 
there,  as  they  have  migrated  and  are  still  migrating  to 
countries  in  the  temperate  zone.  This  is  not  a  mere 
theory,  but  a  fact  of  universal  experience. 

It  is  true,  you  will  find  in  tropical  regions  a  sprink- 
ling of  persons  of  Anglo-Saxon  or  other  northern  ori- 


gin — merchants,  railroad  builders,  speculators,  profes- 
sional men,  miners,  and  mechanics,  a; so  here  andtliere 
an  agriculturist.  }3ut  their  ntin^lrcr  is  small,  and  nicsr 
of  them  expect  to  go  home  aj;ar.:i  as  soon  as  their 
money-mainng-  purpcse  is  more   or  "ij.ss  accomplished. 

Thus  \vc  observe  now  that  busines:;  men  with  plenty 
of  means  ar^-  castmg-  their  eyes  upon  our  "new  posses- 
.sions"  to  establish  mercantile  houses  there,  or  manu- 
factories to  be  worked  with  native  labor:  and  moneyed 
syndicates  and  "  imp;"Ovemen':  companies"  to  exploit 
the  resources  c'i  tho^e  countries,  and  speculators  and 
{Dromotors  to  take  advantage  of  what  may  turn  up — tlve 
iTanchise  grabber,  as  reported,  is  already  there — many 
having  perfect^  legitimate  ends  in  view,  others 
ends  not  so  legitimate,  and  all  expecting  to  be  more  or 
less  favored  by  the  power  of  our  government;  in  short, 
the  capitalist  is  thinking  of  going  there,  or  to  send  his 
agents,  his  enterprises  in  most  cases  to  be  directed  from 
these  more  congenial  shores.  But  you  will  find  that 
laboring  men  of  the  northern  races,  as  they  have  never 
done  so  before,  will  not  now  go  there  in  mass  to  do  the 
work  of  the  country,  agricultural  or  industrial,  and  to 
fotmd  there  permanent  homes;  and  this  is  not  merely 
because  the  rate  of  wages  in  such  countries  is,  owing  to 
native  competition,  usually  low,  but  because  they  can- 
not thrive  there  under  the  climatic  conditions. 

But  it  is  the  working-masses,  those  laboring  in  agri- 
culture and  the  industries,  that  every v.^here  form  the 
bulk  of  the  population;  and  they  are  the  true  constitu- 
ency of  democratic  government.  And  as  the  northern 
races  cannot  do  the  work  of  the  tropical  zone,  they 
cannot  furnish  such  constituencies.  It  is  an  incontesta- 
ble and  very  significant  fact  that  the  British,  the  best 
cx)lonizers  in  history,  have,  indeed,  established  in  tropi- 
cal regions  governments  and  rather  absolute  ones,  bai 
they  have  never  succeeded  in  establishing  there  demc- 
craiic  commonwealths  oi  the  nnglo- Saxon  type,  like 
those  in  America  or  Australia. 

The  scheme  of  Americanizing  our  "new  posv- 
sessions  '  in  that  sense  is  tlierefort  absolutely  hopeless. 


The  immutable  forces  of  nature  are  against  tt.  What- 
ever v."c  may  do  for  iheir  improvement,  the  peopi  i  of 
the  Spanish  Antilles  will  remam  in  overwhelming 
aumerical  predominance,  '.jpanish  Creoles  and  negi'oes, 
and  the  people  of  the  Philippines,  Filipinos,  Malays, 
Tagals,  and  so  on — some  of  themi  quite  clever  in  their 
way,  but  the  vast  majority  utterly  alien  to  us,  not  only 
ill  origin  and  language,  but  in  habits,  traditions,  ways 
of  thinking,  principles,  ambitions — in  short,  in  most 
things  that  are  of  the  greatest  importance  in  human 
intercourse  and  especially  in  political  cooperation.  And 
under  the  influences  of  their  tropical  climate  they  will 
prove  incapable  of  becoming  assimilated  to  the  Anglo- 
iaxon.  They  would,  therefore,  remain  in  the  popula- 
tion of  this  republic  a  hopelessly  heterogeneous  ele- 
ment— in  some  respects  more  hopeless  even  than  the 
colored  people  now  living  among-  us. 

What,  then,  shall  we  do  with  such  populations? 
vShail  we,  according,  not  indeed  to  the  letter,  but  to  the 
evident  spirit  of  our  constitution,  organize  those  coun- 
tries as  territories  with  a  view  to  their  eventual  admis- 
sion as  states  ?  If  they  become  states  on  an  equal  foot- 
ing with  the  other  states  they  will  not  only  be  permit- 
ted to  govern  themselves,  as  to  their  home  concerns, 
but  they  will  take  part  in  governing  the  whole  republic, 
in  governing  us,  by  sending  senators  and  representa- 
tives into  our  Congress  to  help  make  our  laws,  and  by 
voting  for  president  and  vice-president  to  give  our 
national  government  its  execudve.  The  prospect  oi: 
the  consequences  which  would  follow  the  admission  ot 
the  Spanish  Creoles  and  the  negroes  of  West  India 
islands  and  of  the  Malays  and  Tagals  of  the  Philippines 
ro  participation  in  the  conduct  of  our  government  is  so 
alarming  that  you  instinctively  pause  before  taking  the 
step. 

But  this  may  be  avoided,  it  is  said,  by  govemmg  the 
new  possessions  as  mere  dependencies,  or  subject  prov- 
inces. I  will  waive  the  constitutional  question  and 
merely  point  out  that  this  would  be  a  most  serious  de- 
parture from  the  rule  that  governed  our  form.er  acquis- 


itions,  which  are  so  frequently  qiioted  as  precedents. 
It  is  useless  to  speak  of  the  District  of  Columbia  and 
Alaska  as  proof  that  we  have  done  such  things  before 
and  can  do  them  again.  Every  candid  mind  will  at 
once  admit  the  vast  diiference  between  those  cases  and 
the  pertnancnt  establishment  of  substantially  arbitrar}' 
g-overnment  over  large  territories  with  many  millions 
of  inhabitanls,  and  v^^ith  a  prospect  of  there  being  many 
more  of  the  same  kind,  if  we  once  launch  out  on  a  ca- 
reer of  conquest.  The  question  is  not  merely  whether 
we  can  do  such  things,  but  whether,  having  the  public 
good  at  heart,  we  sJwuld  do  them. 

If  we  do  adopt  such  a  system,  then  v\'e  shall,  for  the 
first  time  since  the  abolition  of  slavery,  again  have  two 
kinds  of  Americans :  Americans  of  the  first  class,  \i\\o 
enjoy  the  privilege  of  taking  part  in  the  government  in 
accordance  with  our  old  constitutional  principles,  and 
Americans  of  the  second  class,  who  are  to  be  ruled  in  a 
substantially  arbitrary  fashion  by  the  Americans  of  the 
first  class,  through  congressional  legislation  and  the 
action  of  the  national  executive — not  to  speak  of  indi- 
vidual "  masters  "  arrogating  to  themselves  powers  be- 
yond the  law, 

This  will  be  a  difference  no  better — nay,  rather  some- 
what worse — than  that  which  a  century  and  a  quarter 
ago  still  existed  between  Englishmen  of  the  first 
and  Englishmen  of  the  second  class,  the  first  rep- 
resented by  King  George  and  the  British  Parliament. 
and  the  second  by  the  American  colonists.  This  differ- 
ence called  forth  that  great  paean  of  human  liberty,  the 
American  Declaration  of  Independence — a  document 
which,  I  regret  to  say,  seems,  owing  to  the  intoxication 
of  conquest,  to  have  lost  much  of  its  charm  among 
some  of  our  fellow  citizens.  Its  fundamental  princi- 
ple was  that  "governments  derive  their  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed."  We  are  now  told 
that  we  have  never  fully  lived  up  to  that  principle,  and 
that,  therefore,  in  our  new  policy  we  may  cast  it  aside 
altogether.  But  I  sa}'  to  you  that,  if  we  are  true  be- 
lievers in  democratic   government,   it   is   our    duty   to 


move  in  the  directiou  towards  the  full  reahzacion  of 
that  principle  and  not  in  the  direction  away  from  it.  If 
you  tell  me  that  we  cannot  govern  the  people  of  those 
new  possessions  in  accordance  with  that  principle,  then 
I  answer  that  this  is  a  good  reason  why  this  democracy 
.should  not  attempt  to  govera  them  at  all. 

If  we  do,  we  shall  transform  the  government 
of  the  people,  for  the  people,  and  by  the  peo- 
ple, for  which  Abraham  Lincoln  lived,  into  a  govern- 
ment of  one  part  of  the  people,  the  strong,  over  an- 
other part,  the  weak.  Such  an  abandonment  of  a  fun- 
damental principle  as  a  permanent  policy  may  at  first 
seem  to  bear  only  upon  more  or  less  distant  dependen- 
cies, but  it  can  hardly  fail  in  its  ultimate  effects  to  dis- 
turb the  rule  of  the  same  principle  in  the  conduct  of 
democratic  government  at  home.  And  I  warn  the 
x\merican  people  that  a  democracy  cannot  so  deny  its 
faith  as  to  the  vital  conditions  of  its  being — it  cannot 
long  play  the  king  over  subject  populations  without 
creating  within  itself  ways  of  thinking  and  habits  of 
action  most  dangerous  to  its  own  vitality — most  danger- 
ous especially  to  those  classes  of  society  which  are  the 
least  powerful  in  the  assertion,  and  the  most  helpless  in 
the  defense  of  their  rights.  Let  the  poor  and  the  men 
v/ho  earn  their  bread  by  the  labor  of  their  hands  pause 
and  consider  well  before  they  give  their  assent  to  a  pol- 
icy so  deliberately  forgetful  of  the  equality  of  rights. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say,  however,  that  all  of  our  new 
acquisitions  would  be  ruled  as  subject  provinces. 
Some  of  them,  the  Philippines,  would  probably  remain 
such,  but  some  others  would  doubtless  become  states. 
In  Porto  Rico,  for  instance,  politicians  of  lively  ambition 
are  already  clamoring  for  the  speedy  organization  of 
that  island  as  a  regular  territory,  soon  to  be  admitted  as 
a  state  of  the  Union.  You  may  say  that  they  will  have 
long  to  wait.  Be  not  so  sure  of  that.  Consult  your 
ov/n  experience.  Has  not  more  than  cnc  territory, 
hardly  fitted  for  statehood,  been  pr  -'ipitated  into  the 
Union  as  a  state  when  the  majority  party  in  Congress 
thought  that,  by  doing  so,  its  party  strength  could  be 


augmented  in  the  senate  and  in  the  house  and  in  the 
electoral  college?  Have  our  parties  become  so  unself- 
ishly virtuous  that  this  may  not  happen  again?  So  we 
may  see  Porto  Rico  admitted  before  we  have  bad  tiiie 
to  T'ub  our  eyes. 

You  may  say  that  little  Porto  Rico  would  not  nuti- 
ter  much.  Bui  can  any  clear  thinking  man  believe  tliar, 
when  we  are  once  fairly  started  in  the  course  of  in d' in- 
criminate expansion,  we  shall  stop  there?  Will  not  ihe 
same  reasons  which  induced  us  to  take  Porto  Rico  also 
be  used  to  show  that  the  tv.-o  islands  of  San  Domingo 
with  Hayti,  and  of  Cuba,  which  separate  Porto  Rico 
from  our  coast,  would,  if  they  were  in  foreign  hands,  be 
a  danger  to  us,  and  that  we  miLst  take  them?  Nothing 
could  be  more  plausible.  Why,  the  necessity  of  annex- 
ing vSan  Domingo  is  already  freely  discussed,  and  agen- 
cies to  bring  this  about  are  actually  at  work.  And  as  to 
Cuba,  every  expansionist  will  tell  you  that  it  is  only  a 
matter  of  time.  And  does  any  one  believe  that  those 
islands,  if  annexed,  will  not  become  states  of  this  Union? 
That  would  give  us  at  least  three,  perhaps  four,  new 
states,  with  about  3,500,000  inhabitants,  Spanish  and 
French  Creoles  and  negroes,  with  six  or  eight  senators, 
and  from  fifteen  to  twenty  representatives  in  Congress 
and  a  corresponding  number  of  votes  in  the  electoral 
college. 

Nor  are  we  likely  to  stop  there.  If  we  build  and 
own  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  instead  of  neutralizing  it,  we 
shall  easily  persuade  ourselves  that  our  control  of  that 
canal  will  not  be  safe  unless  we  own  all  the  country 
down  to  it,  so  that  it  be  not  separated  from  our  borders 
by  any  foreign,  and  possibly  hostile  power.  Is  this  too 
adventurous  an  idea  to  become  true?  Why,  it  is  not 
half  as  adventurous  and  extravagant  as  the  idea  of  unit- 
ing to  this  republic  the  Philippines,  9,000  miles  away. 
It  is  already  proposed  to  acquire  in  som(i  way  strips  of 
territory  several  miles  wide  on  each  side  of  that  canal 
for  its  military  protection.  But  that  v/ill  certainly  be 
found  insufficient  if  foreign  countries  lie  between.  We 
must,  therefore,  have  those    countries.       That   means 


iviexico  aua  vajious  si.irul  ^'etiirai  American  repaljiics, 
'vith  a  population  in  all  or  about  14,000,000,  mostly 
Spanish-Indian  mixture — making  at  least  nfteen  states, 
-vnlicled  to  tiiirty  senators  aud  scores  of  representatives 
and  presidential  electors. 

As  to  the  character  of  the  people  v/hom  those  sena- 
cors,  members,  and  presidential  electors  are  to  represent, 
I  will  let  an  authority  speak  that  may  astonish  3''ou,  con- 
sidering- his  present  position — the  Hon.  Whitelaw  Reid, 
who  said  in  a  public  address  at  the  tmie  when  the  an- 
nexation of  San  Domingo  was  under  discussion  : 

"  This  land  greed  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  is  still  at 
work.  We  have  absorbed  the  best  part  of  Mexico,  but 
v'/e  have  plenty  of  propagandists,  mainly  in  the  army, 
and  with  influential  voice  near  the  head  of  the  govern- 
ment, clamorous  for  the  rest.  We  have  taken  a  foot- 
hold in  the  West  Indies  ;  it  will  be  of  God's  mercy  if 
vve  do  not  find  the  v/hole  West  Indian  archipelago 
crowded  upon  us  to  tax  an  already  overloaded  digestion. 
What  are  we  to  do  with  the  turbulent,  treacherous,  ill- 
conditioned  population.?  They  have  shown  no  faculty 
:or  self-government  hitherto  ;  and  are  we  to  precipitate 
them  in  a  mass  into  the  already  sufficiently-degraded 
elements  of  our  national  suffrage?  We  are  trying  the 
powers  of  Anglo-Saxon  self-governing  digestion  upon 
three  millions  of  slaves  ;  are  the  gastric  juices  of  the 
body  politic  equal  to  the  addition  of  the  Mexicans,  the 
Santo  Domingans,  the  Cubans,  the  *  Conks '  of  the  Ba- 
hamas, the  Kanakas,  and  the  rest  of  the  inferior  mixed 
races  of  our  outlying  tropical  and  semi-tropical  depen- 
dencies? " 

As  Mr.  Reid  now  advocates  the  annexation  of  Porto 
Rico  and  the  Philippines,  he  must  have  changed  his 
opinion,  which  he  had  a  right  to  do.  But  I  think  he 
substantially  spoke  the  truth  then,  and  if  he  now  wants 
the  Philippines,  his  case  clearly  illustrates  how  far 
people  will  be  carried  by  the  expansion  fever  when  it 
once  fairly  takes  hold  of  them. 

You  may  think  that  the  introduction  of  more  than 
thirty   men  in   our    senate,   over    eighty   in  the  lower 


hous3  of  our  Congress,  and  much  over  one  hundred 
votes  in  our  electoral  college,  to  speak  and  act  for  the 
mixture  of  Spanish,  French,  and  negro  blood  on  the 
West  India  Islands,  and  for  the  Spanish  and  Indian 
rnixLure  on  the  continent  south  of  us — for  people  utt'jrly 
alien  and  mostly  incapable  of  assimilation  to  us  in  their 
'Topical  habitation — to  make  cur  laws  and  elect  our 
■presidents,  and  incidentally  to  help  us  lift  up  the  Phil- 
ippines to  a  higher  plane  of  civilization — is  too  shocking 
a  proposition  to  be  entertained  for  a  moment,  and  that 
our  people  v/ill  resist  it  to  the  bitter  end.  No,  they 
will  not  resist  it,  if  indiscriminate  expansion  has  once 
become  the  settled  policy  of  the  republic.  They  will 
be  told,  as  thej^  are  told  now,  that  we  are  in  it  and  can- 
not get  honorably  out  of  it  ;  that  destiny,  and  Provi- 
dence,  and  duty  demand  it  ;  that  it  would  be  cowardly 
to  shrink  from  our  new  responsibilities  ;  that  those  pop- 
ulations cannot  take  care  of  themselves,  and  that  it  is 
cur  mission  to  let  them  have  the  blessing  of  our  free  in- 
stitutions ;  that  we  must  have  new  markets  for  our 
products  ;  that  those  countries  are  rich  in  resources, 
and  that  there  is  plenty  of  money  to  be  made  by  taking 
them  ;  that  the  American  people  can  whip  anybody 
and  do  anything  they  set  out  to  do;  and  that  "Old 
Glory  "  should  float  over  every  land  on  which  we  can 
lay  our  hands. 

Those  who  have  yielded  to  such  cries  once,  will  yield 
to  them  again.  Conservative  citizens  will  tell  them 
that  thus  the  homogeneousness  of  the  people  of  the  re- 
public, so  essential  to  the  working  of  our  democratic  in- 
stitutions, will  be  irretrievably  lost  ;  that  our  race 
troubles,  already  dangerous,  will  be  infinitely  aggra- 
vated, and  that  the  government  of,  by,  and  for  the 
people  will  be  in  imniinent  danger  of  fatal  demoraliza- 
tion. They  will  be  cried  down  as  pusillanimous  pessi- 
mists, who  are  no  longer  American  patriots.  The 
American  people  will  be  driven  on  and  on  by  the  force 
of  events  as  Napoleon  was  when  started  on  his  career  of 
limitless  conquest.  This  is  imperialism  as  now  advo- 
cated.     Do  we  wish  to  prevent  its  excesses  ?     Then  we 


IS 

must  stop  at  the  beginning,  before  lakmg  Porto  Rico. 
If  we  take  that  island,  not  even  to  speak  of  the  Philip- 
pines, we  shall  have  placed  ourselves  on  the  inclined 
plane,  and  roll  on  and  on,  no  longer  masters  of  our  own 
will,  until  we  have  reached  bottom.  And  where  will 
that  bottom  be  ?     Who  knows  ? 

Our  old  acquisitions  did  not  recjuire  a  material  in- 
crease of  our  army  and  navy.  What  of  the  new  ?  Ir 
is  generally  admitted  that  we  need  verj^  considerable 
adcations  to  our  armaments  on  land  and  sea  to  restore 
and  keep  order  on  the  islands  taken  from  Spain,  and 
then  to  establish  our  sovereignty  there.  This  is  a 
ticklish  business.  In  the  first  place,  Spain  has  never 
been  in  actual  control  and  possession  of  a  good  many 
of  the  Philippine  islands,  while  on  others  the  insur- 
gent Filipinos  had  vv'ell-nigh  destroyed  the  Spanish 
povv-er  when  the  treaty  of  Paris  was  made.  The  peo- 
ple of  those  islands  will  either  peaceably  submit  to 
our  rule  or  they  will  not.  If  they  do  not,  and  we 
must  conquer  them  by  force  of  arms,  we  shall  at  once 
ha/e  war  on  our  hands. 

What  kind  of  a  war  v/ill  that  be .?  The  Filipinos 
fought  against  Spain  for  their  freedom  and  indepen- 
dence, and  unless  they  abandon  their  recently  pro- 
claimed purpose,  it  is  for  their  freedom  and  independ- 
ence, that  they  will  fight  against  us.  To  be  sure,  we 
promise  them  all  sorts  of  good  things  if  they  will  con- 
sent to  become  our  subjects.  But  they  may,  and  prob- 
ably will  prefer  independence  to  foreign  rule,  no  matter 
what  fair  promises  the  foreign  invader  makes.  For 
to  the  Filipinos  the  American  is  essentially  a  for- 
eigner, more  foreign  in  some  respects  than  even  the 
Spaniard  was.  Now,  if  they  resist,  what  shall  we 
do  ?  Kill  them  ?  Let  soldiers  marching  under  the 
stars  and  stripes  shoot  them  down  ?  Shoot  them  down 
because  they  stand  iip  for  their  independence,  just 
as  the  Cubans,  who  are  no  better  than  they,  fought 
for  their  independence,  to  which  we  solemnly  de- 
clared them  to  be  "of  right"  entitled?  Look  at 
this  calmly  if  voxi  can. 


The  Americana  volunteers,  vvho  rushed  to  arms  by 
the  hundreds  of  thousands  to  fight  for  Cuban  inde- 
pendence, may  not  stomach  this  killing  of  Filipinos 
fighting  for  tkcir  independence.  We  shall  have  to 
rely  upon  the  regulars,  the  professional  soldiers,  and 
we  may  need  a  good  niany  of  them.  As  to  the  best 
way  to  fill  the  ranks  in  the  Philippines,  General  Mer- 
ritt  is  reported  to  have  spoken  in  a  recent  interview 
published  in  the  New  York  papers  as  follows  : 

"  To  my  mind  the  permanent  force  should  consist 
of  from  20,000  to  30,000  men.  Of  these  15,000  should 
be  American  soldiers.  The  remainder  of  the  troops 
might  be  recruited  from  the  Spaniards  and  Filipinos. 
The  latter  have  exhibited  no  desire  to  enlist  thus  far, 
but  there  are  many  Spaniards  there  who  have  ex- 
pressed a  wish  to  wear  the  blue.  They  were  impressed 
with  the  good  pay  and  treatment  of  our  men,  and  I 
think  they  would  make  good  American  soldiers.  They 
are  brave  and  hardy,  but  have  suffered  for  lack  of  dis- 
cipline." 

Of  course,  General  Merritt  spoke  only  as  the  pro- 
fessional soldier,  who  has  to  take  care  of  the  army, 
and  I  do  not  blame  him.  But  the  idea  of  engaging 
the  same  Spaniards,  who  but  recently  fought  us  and 
the  Filipinos  at  the  same  time,  to  do  the  killing  of  the 
same  Filipinos  for  us,  or  at  least  to  terrorize  them  into 
subjection,  because  we  want  to  possess  their  land,  and 
to  do  this  under  the  stars  and  stripes — this  idea  is  at 
first  sight  a  little  startling.  It  may  make  the  Hessians 
of  our  Revolutionary  War  grin  in  their  graves.  If 
anybody  had  predicted  such  a  possibility  a  year  ago, 
every  patriotic  American  would  have  felt  an  impulse  to 
kick  him  downstairs.  However,  this  is  imperialism.  It 
bids  us  not  to  be  squeamish.  Indeed,  some  of  our  fel- 
fow-citizens  seem  already  to  be  full  of  its  spirit  The 
Hon.  Cyrus  A.  Sulloway,  a  member  of  Congress  from 
New  Hampshire,  is  reported  to  have  said  in  a  recent 
interview:  "  The  Anglo-Saxon  advances  into  the  new 
regions  with  a  Bible  in  one  hand  and  a  shotgun  in  the 
other.     The  inhabitants  of  those  regions  that  he  cannot 


convert  witn  the  aid  of  the  Bible  anu  orini^  uato  his 
markets,  he  gets  rid  of  \vith  tiie  sliotgun.  It  is  but 
another  demonstratioij  oi  the  survival  of  the  littesi,  " 
In  other  words,  unless  you  worship  as  we  conimar;d 
you,  and  give  us  a  prori  cable  trade,  we  shall  have  to 
shoot  you  down.  The  bloodiest  of  the  old  Spani^V 
conquerors,  four  centuries  ago,  could  not  have  spoicei- 
better.  It  has  a  strange  sound  in  free  America.  Lei 
ns  hope  that  f.ie  spread  of  this  hideous  brutality  of 
sentiment  -iVill  prove  only  a  temporary  epid.emi::,  like 
the  influenza,  and  will  yield  again  when  the  intoxica- 
tion of  victory  subsides  and  our  heads  become  cool 
once  more.  If  it  does  not,  more  shotguns  will  be 
needed  than  Mr.  Solloway  may  now  anticipate. 

If  we  take  those  new  regions,  we  shall  be  wel^ 
entangled  in  that  contest  for  territorial  aggrandizement, 
which  distracts  other  nations  and  drives  them  far 
beyond  their  original  design.  So  it  will  be  inevitably 
with  us.  We  shall  w"ant  new  conquests  to  protect  that 
which  we  already  possess.  The  greed  of  speculators 
working  upon  our  government,  will  push  us  from  one 
point  to  another,  and  we  shall  have  new  conflicts  on  our 
hands,  almost  without  knowing  how  we  got  into  them. 
It  has  always  been  so  under  such  circumstances,  and 
always  will  be.  This  means  more  and  more  soldiers, 
ships,  and  guns. 

A  singular  delusion  has  taken  hold  of  the  minds  ot 
otherwise  clear-headed  men.  It  is  that  our  new  friend- 
ship with  England  will  serve  firmly  to  secure  the 
world's  peace.  Nobody  can  hail  that  friendly  feeling 
between  the  two  nations  more  warmly  than  I  do,  au' 
I  fervidly  hope  it  will  last.  But  I  am  profoimdly  con- 
vinced that  if  this  friendship  results  in  the  two  coun- 
tries setting  OT.it  to  gi'asp  "for  the  Anglo-Saxon,"  a^: 
the  phrase  is,  v/hatever  of  the  earth  may  be  attain- 
able— if  they  hunt  in  couple — they  will  surely  soon  fall 
out  about  the  game,  and  the  first  serious  quarrel,  or  at 
least  one  of  the  first,  we  shall  have,  will  be  with  Great 
Britain.      And  as  familv  feuds  are  the  bitterest,  that 


i8 

feud  will  be  apt  to  become  one  ol'  the  most  deplorable 
in  its  consequences. 

No  nation  is,  or  ought  to  be,  unselfish,  England, 
in  her  friendly  feeling  toward  us,  is  not  inspired  by 
mere  sentinier.tal  benevolence.  The  anxious  wish  of 
many  Englislnrxen  that  we  should  take  the  Philippines 
is  not  free  from  the  consideration  that,  if  we  do  so,  we 
shall  for  a  long  time  depend  on  British  friendship  to 
maintain  our  position  on  that  field  of  rivalry,  and  that 
Britain  will  derive  ample  profit  from  our  dependence 
on  her.  This  was  recently  set  forth  with  startling 
candor  by  the  London  Saturday  Reviezv,  thus  : 

"  Let  us  be  frank  and  say  outright  that  we  expect 
mutual  gain  in  material  interests  from  this  rapproclie- 
7iicnt.  The  American  Commissioners  at  Paris  are  mak- 
ing this  bargain,  whether  they  realize  it  or  not,  under 
tiie  protecting  naval  strength  of  England,  and  we  shall 
expect  a  material  quid  pro  quo  for  this  assistance.  We 
expect  the  United  States  to  deal  generously  with 
Canada  in  the  matter  of  tariSs,  and  we  expect  to  be 
remembered  when  the  United  States  comes  into  posses- 
sion cf  the  Philippine  Islands,  and,  above  all,  we 
expect  her  assistance  on  the  day,  which  is  quickly 
approaching,  when  the  future  of  Chiiia  comes  up  for 
settlement,  for  the  young  imperialist  has  entered  upon 
a  path  where  it  will  require  a  strong  friend,  and  a 
lasting  friendship  between  the  two  nations  can  be 
secured,  not  by  frothy  sentimentality  on  public  plat- 
forms, but  by  reciprocal  advantages  in  solid,  material 
interests. " 

And  the  cable  dispatch  from  London  bringing  this 
utterance  added  ; 

"The  foregoing  opinion  is  certainly  outspoken 
enough,  but  every  American  moving  in  business  circles 
here  knows  this  voices  the  expectations  of  the  average 
Englishman." 

This  is  plain.  If  Englishmen  think  so  we  have  no 
fault  to  find  with  them.  But  it  would  be  extremely 
foolish  on  our  part  to  close  our  eyes  to  the  fact.  British 
friendship  is  a  good  thing  to  have,  but,  perhaps,  not  so 


19 

good  a  thing  :o  nead.  If  we  are  wise  we  shall  not  put 
OMrselves  in  a  situation  in  which  we  shall  need  it. 
British  statesmanship  has  sometimes  shown  great  skill 
in  making  other  nations  fight  its  battles.  This  is  verj' 
admirable  from  its  point  of  view,  but  it  is  not  so 
pleasant  for  the  nations  so  used.  I  should  be  loath  to 
see  this  republic  associated  with  Great  Britain  in  appar- 
ently joint  concerns  as  junior  partner  with  a  minority 
interest,  or  the  American  navy  in  the  situation  of  a 
mere  squadron  of  the  British  fleet.  This  would  surely 
lead  to  trouble  in  the  settling  of  accounts.  Lord 
vSalisbury  was  decidedly  right  when,  at  the  last  lord 
mayor's  banquet,  he  said  that  the  appearance  of  the 
United  States  as  a  factor  in  Asiatic  affairs  was  likely  to 
conduce  to  the  interest  of  Great  Britain,  but  might 
-'not  conduce  to  the  interest  of  peace."  Whether  he 
had  eventual  quarrels  with  this  republic  in  mind,  I  do 
aot  know.  But  it  is  certain  that  the  expression  of 
British  sentiment  I  have  just  quoted  shows  us  a 
Pandora  box  of  such  quarrels. 

Ardently  desiring  the  maintenance  of  the  friendship 
between  England  and  this  republic,  I  cannot  but 
express  the  profound  belief  that  this  friendship  will 
remain  most  secure  if  the  two  nations  do  not  attempt  to 
accomplish  the  same  ends  in  the  same  way  and  on  the 
same  field,  but  continue  to  follow  the  separate  courses 
prescribed  by  their  peculiar  conditions  and  their  history. 

The  history  of  England  is  that  of  a  small  island, 
Inhabited  by  a  vigorous,  energetic  and  rapidly  multi- 
plying race,  with  the  sea  for  its  given  field  of  action. 
Nothing  could  l^e  more  natural  than  that,  as  the  popu- 
lation pressed  against  its  narrow  boundaries.  English- 
men should  have  swarmed  out,  founding  colonies  and 
gradually  building  up  an  empire  of  possessions  scat- 
tered all  over  the  globe.  England  now  must  have  the 
most  powerful  fleet  in  the  world,  not  only  for  the  pro- 
tection of  her  distant  possessions,  but  because  if  any 
other  sea  power,  or  combination  of  sea  powers,  could 
effectually  blockade  her  coasts,  her  people  as  they  now 
are,  might  be  starved  in  a  few  months.      England  must 


be  the  greatest  sea  power  m  order  to  be  a  great  powtr 
at  all. 

The  American  people  began  iheir  career  as  one  of 
the  colonial  ofl'shoots  of  the  English  stock.  They  funnel 
a  grccLL  continent  to  occupy  and  to  fill  with  deniocratic 
coiumonwealths.  Oav  country  is  large  cu;High  for 
several  times  our  present  iiopnl:  lion.  Our  liorne 
resources  are  enormous,  in  gii-.ct  pa]"t  not  yet  touched. 
We  need  not  fear  to  be  starved  b}'  the  coujpletesc 
blockade  of  our  coasts,  for  v.  e  hare  enough  of  eveiy- 
thing  and  to  spare.  On  the  contrary  such  a  blockade 
might  rather  result  in  starving  others  that  need  our 
products.  We  are  to-day  one  of  the  greatest  powers  on 
earth,  without  having  the  most  powerful  fleet,  and 
without  stepping  beyond  our  continent.  We  are  sure 
to  be  by  far  the  greatest  power  of  all,  as  our  homogene- 
ous, intelligent,  and  patriotic  population  multiplies,  and 
our  resources  are  developed,  without  firing  a  gun  or 
sacrificing  a  life  for  the  sake  of  conquest — far  more 
powerful  than  the  British  Empire  with  all  its  Hindoos, 
and  than  the  Russian  Empire  with  all  its  Mongols.  We 
can  exercise  the  most  beneficent  iniiuences  upon  man- 
kind, not  by  forcing  our  rule  or  our  goods  upon  others 
that  are  weak  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  but  through 
the  moral  power  of  our  example,  in  proving  how  the 
greatest  as  well  as  the  smallest  nation  can  carry  on  the 
government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the 
people  in  justice,  liberty,  order,  and  peace  without  large 
armies  and  navies. 

Let  this  republic  and  Great  Britain  each  follow  the 
course  which  its  conditions  and  its  history  have  assigned 
to  it,  and  their  ambitions  will  not  clash,  and  their  friend- 
ships can  be  maintained  for  the  good  of  all.  And  if  our 
British  cousins  should  ever  get  into  serious  stress, 
American  friendship  may  stand  behind  them  ;  but  then 
Britain  would  depend  on  our  friendship,  which,  as  an 
American,  I  should  prefer,  and  not  America  on  British 
friendship,  as  our  British  friends  who  so  impatientl}' 
urge  us  to  take  the  Philippines,  would  have  it.  But  if 
A"e  do  take  the  Philippines,  and  thus  entangle  ourselvc. 


in  the  rivalries  of  Asiatic  aiiairs,  the  future  will  be,  as 
Lord  Salisbury  predicted,  one  of  wars  and  rumors  of 
wars,  and  the  time  will  be  forever  past  when  we  could 
look  dov:n  with  condescending"  pity  on  the  nations  of 
the  old  world  groaning'  under  militarism  with  jU  its 
burdens. 

We  are  already  told  that  we  shall  need  a  regular  army 
of  at  least  100,000  men,  three-fourths  of  whom  are  to 
serve  in  our  "nev.'  possessions."  The  question  is 
whether  this  necessity  is  only  to  be  temporary  or  per- 
manent. Look  at  the  cost.  Last  year  the  support  of 
the  army  proper  required  about  $23,000,000.  It  is  com- 
puted that,  taking  the  increased  costliness  of  the  service 
in  the  tropics  into  account,  the  army  under  the  new  dis- 
pensation will  require  about  $150,000,000;  that  is, 
|i  27,000,000  a  year  more.  It  is  also  officially  admitted 
that  the  possession  of  the  Philippines  would  render  in- 
dispensable a  much  larger  increase  of  the  navy  than 
would  otherwise  be  necessar>^,  costing  untold  millions 
for  the  building-  and  equipment  of  ships,  and  untold 
millions  every  year  for  their  maintenance  and  for  the 
increased  number  of  officers  and  men.  What  we  shall 
have  to  spend  for  fortifications  and  the  like  cannot  now 
be  computed.  But  there  is  a  burden  tipon  us  which  in 
like  weight  no  other  nation  has  to  bear.  To-day,  thirty- 
three  years  after  the  Civil  War,  we  have  a  pension  roll 
of  very  nearly  one  million  names.  And  still  they  come. 
We  paid  to  pensioners  over  $145,000,000  last  year,  a 
sum  larger  than  the  annual  cost  of  the  whole  military 
peace  establishment  of  the  German  Empire,  including 
its  pension  roll.  Our  recent  Spanish  War  will,  accord- 
ing to  a  moderate  estimate,  add  at  least  $20,000,000  to 
our  annual  pension  payments.  But  if  we  send  troops 
to  the  tropics  and  keep  them  there,  we  must  look  for  a 
steady  stream  of  pensioners  from  that  quarter,  for  in 
the  tropics  soldiers  are  "used  up"  very  fast,  even  if 
they  have  no  campaigning  to  do. 

But  all  such  estimates  are  futile.  There  may,  and 
probably  will  be,  much  campaigning  to  do  to  keep  our 
new   subjects  in   obedience,  or  even  in  confliets   with 


other  powers.  And  what  niiiitary  and  naval  expedi- 
tions will  then  cost,  with  onr  extra.vagant  habits,  and 
how  the  pension  roll  then  will  grow,  we  know  to  be  in- 
calculable. Moreover,  we  shall  then  be  in  the  situa- 
tion Oi  those  European  pov/ers,  the  extent  of  whose  ar 
maments  are  determined,  not  by  their  own  wishes,  but 
by  the  armaments  of  their  rivals.  We,  too,  shall  nerv- 
ously watch  reports  from  abroad  telling  us  that  this 
power  is  augmenting  the  number  of  its  warships,  or 
that  another  is  increasing  its  battalions,  or  strengthen- 
ing its  colonial  garrisons  in  the  neighborhood  of  onr 
far-away  possessions  ;  and  w^e  shall  have  to  follow  suit. 
Not  we  ourselves,  but  our  rivals  and  possible  enemies 
wall  decide  how  large  our  armies  and  navies  must  be, 
and  how  much  money  we  must  spend  for  them.  And 
all  that  money  will  have  to  come  out  of  ttie  pockets  of 
our  people,  the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich.  Our  tax-paying 
capacity  and  willingness  are  indeed  ver\"  great.  But  set 
your  policy  of  imperialism  in  full  swing,  as  the  acqui- 
sition of  the  Philippines  will  do,  and  the  time  will  come, 
and  come  quickly,  when  every  American  farmer  and 
workingman,  when  going  to  his  toil,  will,  like  his  Euro- 
pean brother,  have  ' '  to  carry  a  fully  armed  seldier  on 
his  back." 

O  ur  government  has  agreed  to  appear  in  the  '  *  Peace- 
and  Disarmament  Conference  "  called  by  the  Russian 
czar.  What  will  our  representative  have  to  say  when 
the  Russian  spokesman,  as  the  czar  has  done,  truth- 
fully describes  the  ever-growing  evils  of  militarism, 
and  the  necessity  of  putting  a  stop  to  them  in  the  in- 
terest of  civilization  and  of  the  popular  welfare  ?  The 
American  imperialist,  whatever  fine  phrases  he  may 
employ,  will  have  to  say  substantially  this:  "All  you 
tell  us  about  the  niinous  effects  of  increasing  arma- 
ments and  the  necessity  of  stopping  them  in  the  interest 
of  civilization  and  the  popular  welfare  was  our  own 
belief  some  time  ago.  But  we  Americans  have  recently 
changed  our  minds.  You,  gentlemen,  say  that  the 
powers  you  represent  would  disarm  if  they  could,  and 
that  gereral   disarrr.air'ent    might    be    possible    if   one 


23 

power  would  resolutely  begin  to  disarm.  But  we 
Americans  are  just  beginning  to  arm.  You  say  that 
this  will  put  another  difficulty  in  the  way  of  general 
disarmament.  But  we  Am.ericans  have,  by  way  of  lib- 
erating Cuba,  won  b}^  conquest  some  islands  in  both 
hemispheres,  to  which  we  may  wish  to  add,  and  this 
business  will  require  larger  armies  and  navies  than  we 
now  have." 

This  is  the  voice  of  American  imperialism.  And 
thus  our  great  and  glorious  republic,  which  once  boasted 
of  marching  in  the  vanguard  of  progi'essive  civilization, 
will  deliberately  go  to  the  rear,  and  make  of  itself  a 
new  obstacle  to  a  reform,  the  success  of  which  would 
do  infinitely  more  for  the  general  good  of  mankind  than 
we  could  accomplish  by  a  hundred  victories  of  our  arms 
on  land  or  sea. 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  the  new  territorial 
acquisitions  in  view  are  after  all  very  different  from 
those  we  have  made  before.  But  something  more  is  to 
be  said.  When  the  Cuban  affair  approached  a  crisis, 
President  McKinley  declared  in  his  message  that 
"forcible  annexation  cannot  be  thought  of"  for  "it 
would,  by  our  code  of  morals,  be  criminal  aggression. " 
And  in  resolving  upon  the  war  against  Spain,  Congress, 
to  commend  that  war  to  the  public  opinion  of  mankind, 
declared  with  equal  emphasis  and  solemnity  that  the 
war  was,  from  a  sense  of  duty  and  humanity,  made  spe- 
cifically for  the  liberation  of  Cuba,  and  that  Cuba  ' '  is, 
and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent. "  If 
these  declarations  were  not  sincere,  they  were  base  and 
disgraceful  acts  of  hypocrisy.  If  they  were  sincere  at 
the  time,  would  they  not  be  turned  into  such  disgraceful 
acts  of  hypocrisy  by  subsequently  changing  the  war, 
professedly  made  from  motives  of  duty  and  humanity, 
into  a  war  of  conquest  and  self-aggrandizement  ?  It  is 
pretended  that  these  virtuous  promises  referred  to  Cuba 
only.  But  if  President  McKinley  had  said  that,  while 
the  forcible  annexation  of  Cuba  would  be  criminal 
aggression,  the  forcible  annexation  of  anything  else 
would  be  perfectly  right,  and  if  Congress  had  declared 


that  as  to  Cuba  the  war  would  be  one  of  mere  Lhity, 
humanity,  and  liaeralion,  but  that  we  woa  d  tix  e  oy 
conquest  whatever  else  we  could  lay  our  hands  on, 
v.-Quld  not  all  mankind  have  broken  out  in  a  shout  of 
scornful  derision  ! 

I  ask  in  all  candor,  taking  President  Mctvinley  at  his 
word:  Will  the  forcible  annexation  of  the  Phillippincs 
by  our  code  of  morals  not  be  criminal  ag-gression — a 
self-confessed  crime  ?  I  ask  further,  if  the  Cubans,  au 
Congress  declared,  are  and  of  right  ought  to  be  free  and 
independent,  can  anybody  tell  me  why  the  Porto  Ricans 
and  the  Filipinos  ought  not  of  right  to  be  free  and  inde- 
pendent ?  Can  you  sincerely  recognize  the  right  to 
freedom  and  independence  of  one  and  refuse  the  same 
right  to  another  in  the  same  situation,  and  then  take 
his  land  ?  Would  not  that  be  double-dealing  of  the 
most  shameless  sort  ? 

We  hear  much  of  the  respect  of  mankind  for  us 
having  been  greatly  raised  by  our  victories.  Indeed, 
the  valor  of  our  soldiers  and  the  brilliant  achievements 
of  our  navy  have  won  deserved  admiration.  But  do  not 
deceive  yourselves  about  the  respect  of  mankind. 
Recently  I  found  in  the  papers  an  account  of  the  public 
opinion  of  Eiirope,  written  by  a  prominent  English 
journalist.  This  is  what  he  says:  "The  friends  of 
America  wring  their  hands  in  unaffected  grief  over  the 
fall  of  the  United  States  under  the  temptation  of  the 
lust  of  territorial  expansion.  Her  enemies  shoot  out 
the  lip  and  shriek  in  derision  over  what  they  regard  as 
the  unmistakable  demonstration  which  the  demand  for 
the  Philippines  aifords  of  American  cupidity,  American 
bad  faith  and  American  ambition.  '  We  told  you  so, ' 
they  exclaim.  That  is  what  the  unctuous  rectitude  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  always  ends  in.  He  always  begins  by 
calling  heaven  to  witness  his  unselfish  desire  to  help  his 
neighbor,  but  he  always  ends  by  stealing  his  spoons!" 

Atrocious,  is  it  not?  And  yet  this  is  substantially 
what  the  true  friends  of  America,  and  what  her  enemies 
in  Europe,  think — I  mean  those  friends  who  had  faith 
in  the  nobility  of  the  American  people,  who  loved  our 


25 

republican  government,  and  who  hoped  that  the  exam- 
ple set  by  our  great  democracy,  would  be  an  inspiration. 
to  those  struggling  for  liberty  the  world  over  ;  and  I 
mean  those  enemies  v/ho  hate  republican  government 
and  who  long  to  see  the  American  people  disgraced  and 
huraiiiated.  So  they  think:  I  know  it  from  my  own 
coiTespondence.  Nothing  has  in  our  times  discredited 
the  name  of  republic  in  the  civilized  world  as  much  as 
the  Dreyfus  outrage  in  France  and  our  conquest  furor 
in  Am^erica;  and  our  conquest  furor  more,  because  from 
us  the  v/orld  hoped  m.ore. 

No,  do  not  deceive  3-ourselves.  If  we  turn  that  war 
which  was  so  solemnly  commended  to  the  favor  of 
mankind  as  a  generous  war  of  liberation  and  humanity 
into  a  victory  for  conquest  and  self-aggrandizement, 
we  shall  have  thoroughly  forfeited  our  moral  credit 
with  the  world.  Professions  of  unselfish  virtue  and 
benevolence,  proclamations  of  noble  humanitarian 
purposes  coming  from  us  will  never,  never  be  trusted 
again.  Is  this  the  position  in  which  this  great  republic 
of  ours  should  stand  among  the  family  of  nations? 
Our  American  self-respect  should  rise  in  indignant 
protest  against  it. 

And  now  compare  this  picture  of  the  state  of  things 
which  threatens  us,  with  the  picture  I  drew  of  our  con- 
dition existing  before  the  expansion  fever  seized  us. 
Which  will  you  choose? 

What  can  there  be  to  justify  a  change  of  policy 
fraught  with  such  direful  consequences  ?  Let  us  pass 
the  arguments  of  the  advocates  of  such  imperialism 
candidly  in  review. 

The  cry  suddenly  raised  that  this  great  country  has 
become  too  small  for  us  is  too  ridiculous  to  demand  an 
answer,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  our  present  population 
may  be  tripled  and  still  have  ample  elbow-room,  v/ith 
resources  to  support  many  more.  But  we  are  told  that 
our  industries  are  gasping  for  breath ;  that  we  are  suf- 
fering from  over-production;  that  our  products  must 
have  new  outlets,  and  that  we  need  colonies  and 
dependencies  the  world  over  to  give  us  more  markets. 


MoremarkeLa?  Certainly.  But  do  we,  civilized  beings 
indulge  in  tlie  absurd  and  barbarous  notion  that  we 
must  own  the  countries  with  which  we  wish  to  trade  ? 
Here  are  our  official  reports  before  us,  telling  us  that  of 
late  years  our  export  trade  has  grown  enormously,  not 
only  of  farm  products,  but  of  the  products  of  our  manu- 
facturing industries;  in  fact,  that  "our  sales  of  m^anu- 
factured  goods  have  continued  to  extend  with  a  facility 
and  prompitude  of  results  which  have  excited  the  seri- 
ous concern  of  countries  that,  for  generations,  had  not 
only  controlled  their  home  markets,  but  had  practically 
monopolized  certain  lines  of  trade  in  other  lands." 

There  is  a  distinguished  Englishman,  the  Right 
Hon.  Charles  T.  Ritchie,  President  of  the  Board  of 
Trade,  telling  a  British  Chamber  of  Commerce  that 
"we  (Great  Britain)  are  being  rapidly  overhauled  in 
exports  by  other  nations,  especially  the  United  States 
and  Germany,"  their  exports  fast  advancing,  while 
British  exports  are  declining.  What?  Great  Britain, 
the  greatest  colonial  power  in  the  world,  losing  in  com- 
petition v/ith  two  nations  one  of  which  had,  so  far,  no 
colonies  or  dependencies  at  all,  and  the  other  none  of 
any  commercial  importance  ?  What  does  this  mean  ? 
It  means  that,  as  proved  by  the  United  States  and  Ger- 
many, colonies  are  not  necessary  for  the  expansion  of 
trade,  and  that,  as  proved  by  Great  Britain,  colonies  do 
not  protect  a  nation  against  a  loss  of  trade.  Our  trade 
expands,  without  colonies  or  big  navies,  because  we 
produce  certain  goods  better  and  in  proportion  cheaper 
than  other  people  do.  British  trade  declines,  in  spite  of 
immense  dependencies  and  the  strongest  navy,  because 
it  does  not  successfully  compete  with  us  in  that  respect. 
Trade  follows,  not  the  flag,  but  the  best  goods  for  the 
price.  Expansion  of  export  trade  and  new  markets  ! 
We  do  not  need  foreign  conquests  to  get  them,  for  we 
have  them,  and  are  getting  them  more  and  more  in 
rapidly  increasing  growth. 

"But  the  Pacific  Ocean,  "we  are  mysteriously  told, 
' '  will  be  the  great  commercial  battlefield  of  the  future, 
and  we  must  quickly  use  the  present  opportunity  to 


secnre  our  position  on  it.  The  visible  presence  of  great 
power  is  necessaiy  for  lis  to  get  our  share  of  the  trade 
of  China.  Therefore,  we  must  have  the  Philippines." 
Well,  the  China  trade  is  worth  having,  although  for  a 
time  out  of  sig'ht  the  Atlantic  Ocean  will  be  an  infinitely 
more  important  battlefield  of  commerce  than  the  Pacific, 
and  one  European  customer  is  worth  more  than  twenty 
cr  thirty  Asiatics.  But  does  tlie  trade  of  China  really 
require  that  we  should  have  the  Philippines  and  make 
a  great  display  of  power  to  g-et  our  share  ?  Read  the 
consular  reports,  and  you  will  find  that  in  many  places 
in  China  our  trade  is  rapidly  gaining,  while  in  some 
British  trade  is  declining,  and  this  wiiile  Great  Britain 
had  on  hand  the  greatest  display  of  power  imaginable 
and  we  had  none.  And  in  order  to  increase  our  trade 
there,  our  consuls  advise  us  to  improve  our  commercial 
methods,  saying  nothing  of  the  necessity  of  establishing 
a  base  of  naval  operations,  and  of  our  appearing  there 
with  war  ships  and  heavy  guns.  Trade  is  developed, 
not  by  the  best  guns,  but  by  the  best  merchants.  But 
why  do  other  nations  prepare  to  fight  for  the  Chinese 
trade  ?  Other  nations  have  done  many  foolish  things 
which  we  have  been,  and  I  hope  will  remain,  wise 
enough  not  to  imitate.  If  it  should  come  to  fighting 
for  Chinese  customers,  the  powers  engaged  m  that  fight 
are  not  unlikely  to  find  out  that  they  pay  too  high  a 
price  for  what  can  be  gained,  and  that  at  last  the  peace- 
ful and  active  neutral  will  have  the  best  bargain.  At 
any  rate,  to  launch  into  all  the  embroilments  of  an 
imperialistic  policy  by  annexing  the  Philippines  in  order 
to  snatch  something  more  of  the  Chinese  trade  would  be 
for  us  the  foolish  est  game  of  all. 

Generally  speaking,  nothing  could  be  more  irrational 
than  all  the  talk  about  our  losing  commercial  or  other 
opportunities  which  ' '  will  never  come  back  if  we  fail  to 
grasp  them  nov/. "  Why,  we  are  so  rapidly  growing  in 
all  the  elements  of  power  ahead  of  all  other  nations  that, 
not  many  decades  hence,  unless  we  demoralize  ourselves 
by  a  reckless  policy  of  adventure,  not  one  of  them  will 
be  able  to  resist  our  will  if  we  choose  to  enforce  it. 


This  the  world  knows,  and  is  alarmed  at  the  prospect. 
Those  who  are  most  alarmed  ma}'  ^\dsh  that  we  should 
give  them  now,  by  some  rash  entei  prise,  an  occasion  ror 
dealing  us  a  damaging-  blow  while  we  are  less  irresistilile, 

"  Biit  we  must  have  coaling  stations  for  our  navy  1  " 
Well,  can  we  not  get  as  many  coaling  stations  as  wc 
need  without  owning  populous  countries  behind  tlicm 
that  would  entangle  us  in  dangerous  political  responsi- 
bilities and  complications  ?  Must  Great  Britain  own  tiie 
whole  of  Spain  in  order  to  hold  Gibraltar  ? 

"  But  we  must  civilize  those  poor  people  !  "  Are  we 
not  ingenious  and  charitable  enough  to  do  much  for 
their  civilization  without  subjugating  and  ruling  them 
by  criminal  aggression  ? 

The  rest  of  the  pleas  for  imperialism  consist  mostly 
of  those  high-sounding  catch-words  of  which  a  free  peo- 
ple when  about  to  decide  a  great  question  should  be 
especially  suspicious.  We  are  admonished  that  it  is 
time  for  us  to  become  a  "world  power."  Well,  we  arg 
a  world  power  now,  and  have  been  for  many  years 
What  is  a  world  power  ?  A  power  strong  enough  to 
make  its  voice  listened  to  with  deference  by  the  world 
whenever  it  chooses  to  speak.  Is  it  necessary  for  a 
world  power,  in  order  to  be  such,  to  have  its  finger  in 
every  pie  ?  Must  we  have  the  Philippines  in  order  to 
become  a  world  power?  To  ask  the  question  is  to 
answer  it. 

The  American  flag,  we  are  told,  v/henever  once 
raised,  must  never  be  hauled  down.  Certainly,  every 
patriotic  citizen  will  alwaj^s  be  read)'-,  if  need  be,  to  light 
and  to  die  under  his  flag  wherever  it  may  wave  injustice 
and  for  the  best  interests  of  the  country.  But  I  say  to 
yen,  woe  to  tlie  republic  if  it  should  ever  be  without 
citizens  patriotic  and  brave  enough  to  defy  the  dema- 
gogues' cry  and  to  haul  down  the  flag  wherever  it  may 
be  raised  not  in  justice  and  not  for  the  best  interests  of 
the  country.     Such  a  republic  would  not  last  long. 

But,  they  tell  us,  we  have  been  living  in  a  state  of 
contemptible  isolation  which  must  be  broken  so  that  we 
may  feel  and  conduct  ourselves  "as  a  full-grown  mem- 


ber  of  ihe  iamily  of  natior;s. '  What  is  that  so-caiied 
isolation  ?  Is  it  commercial  ?  Last  year  our  foreign 
trade  amounted  to  nearly  2000  million  dollars,  and  is 
i-apidty  growing.  Is  that  commercial  isolation  ?  Or  are 
we  politically  isolated  ?  Remember  our  histor}^  Who 
was  it  that  early  in  this  century  broke  up  the  piracy  of 
the  Barbary  States  ?  Who  was  it  that  took  a  leading 
part  in  delivering  the  v/crld's  commerce  of  the  Danish 
Sound  dues  ?  Who  v/as  it  that  nrst  opened  Jap.a:  to 
communication  v/ith  the  western  world  ?  And  what 
power  has  in  this  century  made  more  valuable  contribu- 
tions to  international  law  than  the  United  States  ?  Do 
you  call  that  contemptible  isolation  ?  It  is  true,  we  did 
not  meddle  much  v/ith  foreign  affairs  that  did  not  concern 
as.  But  if  the  circle  of  our  interests  widens  and  we 
wish  to  meddle  more,  must  we  needs  have  the  Philip- 
pines in  order  to  feel  and  conduct  ourselves  as  a  mem- 
i)er  of  the  family  of  nations  ? 

We  are  told  that,  having  giown  so  great  and  strong, 
we  must  at  last  cast  off  our  childish  reverence  for  the 
I  cachings  of  Washington's  farewell  address  —  those 
"  nursery  rhymes  that  were  sung  around  the  cradle  of 
the  republic  "  I  apprehend  that  many  of  those  who 
now  so  flippantl}^  scoff  at  the  heritage  the  Father  of 
his  Country  left  us  in  his  last  words  of  admonition,  have 
never  read  that  venerable  document.  I  challenge  those 
who  have,  to  show  me  a  single  sentence  of  general  im- 
])ort  in  it  that  would  not  as  a  wise  rule  of  national  con- 
duct apply  to  the  circumstances  of  to-day  !  What  is  it 
that  has  given  to  Washington's  farewell  address  an 
authority  that  was  revered  by  all  until  our  recent  victo- 
ries made  so  many  of  us  drunk  with  wild  ambitions  ? 
Not  only  the  prestige  of  Washington's  name,  great  as 
that  was  and  should  ever  remain.  No,  it  was  the  fact 
that  under  a  respectful  observance  of  those  teachings 
this  republic  has  grown  from  the  most  modest  begin- 
nings into  a  Union  spanning  this  vast  continent;  our 
people  have  multiplied  from  a  handful  to  75  millions; 
we  have  risen  from  poverty  to  a  wealth  the  sum  of 
which  tlie  imagination  can  hardly  grasp;  this  American 


3° 

nation  has  become  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  [jow- 
ertul  on  earth,  and,  continuing  in  the  same  course,  will 
surely  become  the  greatest  and  most  powerful  of  nil. 
Not  Washington's  name  alone  gave  his  teachings  thci)- 
dignity  and  weight.  It  was  the  practical  results  of  hiS 
policy  that  secured  to  it,  until  now,  the  intelligent 
approbation  of  the  American  people.  And  unless  we 
have  completely  lost  our  senses,  Vv^e  shall  never  despise 
and  reject  as  mere  "nursery  rhj^mes  "  the  words  of  wi--- 
dom  left  us  by  the  greatest  of  Americans,  following 
which  the  American  people  have  achieved  a  splendor  oV 
developmient  without  parallel  in  the  history  of  mankind. 

You  may  tell  me  that  this  is  all  very  well,  but  thj.i; 
by  the  acts  of  our  ov/n  governmient  we  are  nov/  in  this 
annexation  business,  and  how  can  we  get  decently  out 
of  it  ?  I  answer  that  the  difliculties  of  getting  out  of  it 
may  be  great;  but  that  they  are  infinitely  less  great 
than  the  difficulties  we  shall  have  Lo  contend  with  if  we 
stay  in  it. 

Looking  them  in  the  face,  let  us  first  clear  our  mindjj 
of  confused  notions  about  our  duties  and  responsibilities 
in  the  premises.  That  our  victories  have  devolved  upon 
us  certain  duties  as  to  the  people  of  the  conquered 
islands,  I  readily  admit.  But  are  they  the  only  duties 
we  have  to  perform,  or  have  they  suddenly  become  par- 
amount to  all  other  duties  ?  I  deny  it.  I  deny  that  the 
duties  we  owe  to  the  Cubans  and  the  Porto  Ricans  and 
the  Filipinos  and  the  Tagals  of  the  Asiatic  islands  ab- 
solve us  from  our  duties  to  the  75  millions  of  our  own 
people  and  to  their  posterity.  I  deny  that  they  oblige 
us  to  destroy  the  moral  credit  of  our  own  republic  by 
turning  this  loudly  heralded  war  of  liberation  and 
humanity  into  a  land-grabbing  game  and  an  act  or 
criminal  aggression.  I  deny  that  they  compel  us  to 
aggravate  our  race  troubles,  to  bring  upon  us  the  con- 
stant danger  of  war,  and  to  subject  our  people  to  the 
galling  burden  of  increasing  armaments.  If  we  have 
rescued  those  unfortunate  daughters  of  Spain,  the  colo- 
nies, from  the  tyranny  of  their  cruel  father,  I  deny  that  we 
are  therefore  in  honor  bound  to  marry  any  of  the  girls, 


or  to  take  tlieiu  all  into  our  household,  where  they  m.iy 
disturb  and  demoralize  our  whole  family.  I  deny  that 
the  liberation  of  those  Spanish  dependencies  morally  con- 
strains us  to  do  anything  that  would  put  our  highest  mis- 
sion to  solve  the  great  problem  of  democratic  government 
m  jeopardy,  or  that  would  otherwise  endanger  the  vital 
interests  of  the  republic.  Y/hatever  our  duties  to  them 
may  be,  our  duties  to  our  own  country  and  people  stand 
first;  and  from  this  scandpoint  we  have,  as  sane  men 
and  patriotic  citizens,  to  regard  our  obligation  to  take 
care  of  the  future  of  those  islands  and  their  people. 

They  fought  for  deliverance  from  Spanish  oppression, 
and  we  helped  them  to  obtain  that  deliverance.  Thai 
deliverance  they  understood  to  mean  independence.  I 
repeat  the  question  whether  anybody  can  tell  me  why 
the  declaration  of  Congress  that  the  Cubans  of  right 
ought  to  be  free  and  independent  should  not  apply  to  all 
of  them  }  Their  independence,  therefore,  would  be  the 
natural  and  rightful  outcome.  This  is  the  solution  of 
the  problem  first  to  be  taken  in  view. 

It  is  objected  that  they  are  not  capable  of  inde- 
pendent government.  They  may  answer  that  this  is 
their  affair  and  that  they  are  at  least  entitled  to  a  trial 
I  frankly  admit  that  if  they  are  given  that  trial,  their 
conduct  in  governing  themselves  will  be  far  from  per- 
fect. V/ell,  the  conduct  of  no  people  is  perfect,  not 
even  our  own.  They  may  try  to  revenge  themselves 
upon  their  tories  in  their  Revolutionary  War.  But  we, 
too,  threw  our  tories  into  hideous  dungeons  during  our 
Revolutionary  War  and  persecuted  and  drove  them 
away  after  its  close.  They  may  have  bloody  civil  broils. 
But  we,  too,  have  had  our  Civil  War  which  cost  hun- 
dreds and  thousands  of  lives  and  devastated  one-half  of 
our  land;  and  now  we  have  in  horrible  abundance  the 
killings  by  lynch  law,  and  our  battles  at  Virden.  They 
may  have  troubles  with  their  wild  tribes.  So  had  we, 
and  we  treated  our  wild  tribes  in  a  manner  not  to  be 
proud  of.  They  may  have  corruption  and  rapacity  in 
their  government,  but  Havana  and  Ponce  may  get 
municipal  adM-inistration  almost  as  good  as  New  York 


has  under  'i'-'^mnany  rule;  anci   Ivir-.niJa  may  secure  :; 
;.'ity  council  not  nitich  less  virtuous  than  that  of  Chicag'o. 

I  y  i.y  tiiese  things  not  in  a  spirit  of  le^-it3',  well  iin- 
(ier~t.;uding"  the  ditierence;  but  I  say  them  seriously  to 
remind  you  that,  Vv^hen  we  speak  of  the  gfovernnient 
those  islands  should  iiave,  we  carn.or  reasonably  set  up 
:T.andards  whiLh  arc  not  reached  even  hy  the  m.ost  civil- 
i;:ed  people,  and  v/hich  in  tb.:)se  re^^vions  could  not  be 
reached,  even  if  we  ourselves  conducted  their  govern- 
ment with  our  best  available  st^.tesmanship.  Our  atten- 
tion is  in  these  days  frequentl)"  called  to  the  adm.irable 
and  in  many  respects  successful  administrative  mxa- 
chinery  introdivced  by  Great  Britain  in  India.  Biit  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  this  rnaLhiuery  was  evolved 
from  a  ceatiiry  of  mpine,  corruption,  disastrous  blun- 
ders, savage  struggles,  and  murderous  revolts,  and  that 
t;ven  now  many  wise  men  in  England  gravely  doubt  in 
their  hearts  whether  it  was  best  for  their  country  to 
undertake  the  conquest  of  India  at  all,  and  are  troubled 
by  gloomy  forebodings  of  a  calamitous  catastrophe  that 
may  some  day  eng-ulf  that  splendid  fabric  of  Asiatic 
dominion. 

No,  we  cannot  expect  that  the  Porto  Ricans,  the 
Cubans,  and  the  Filipinos  will  maintain  orderly  govern- 
ments in  Anglo-Saxon  fashion.  But  they  may  succeed 
in  establishing  a  tolerable  order  of  things  in  their  o\\m 
fashion,  as  Mexico,  after  many  decades  of  turbulent 
disorder,  succeeded  at  last,  under  Porfirio  Diaz,  in  hav- 
ing a  strong  and  orderly  government  of  her  kind,  not. 
indeed,  such  a  government  as  we  would  tolerate  in  thii- 
Union,  but  a  government  answering  Mexican  character 
and  interests,  and  respectable  in  its  relations  with  the 
outside  world. 

This  will  become  all  the  more  possible  if,  withoiit 
annexing  and  ruling  those  people,  we  simply  put  them 
on  their  feet,  and  then  give  them  the  benefit  of  that 
humanitarian  spi.it  v/hicli,  as  we  claim,  led  us  into  the 
war  for  the  liberation  of  Cuba.  To  this  end  we  should 
keep  our  troops  on  the  islands  only  imtil  their  people  have 
constrncted  governments  and  organized   forces  of  their 


33 

own  for  the  maintenance  of  orclcr.  Our  military  occu- 
pation should  not  be  kept  up  as  long-  as  possible,  but 
should  be  withdrawn  as  soon  as  possible. 

The  Philippines  may,  as  Belgium  and  Switzerland 
are  in  Europe,  be  covered  by  a  guarantee  of  neutrality 
on  the  part  of  the  powers  most  interested  in  that  region 
— an  agreement  which  the  diplomacy  of  the  United 
States  should  not  find  it  difficult  to  obtain.  This  would 
secure  them  against  foreign  aggression.  As  to  the  inde- 
pendent republics  of  Porto  Rico  and  Cuba,  our  govern- 
ment might  lend  its  good  offices  to  unite  them  with  San 
Domingo  and  Hayti  in  a  confederacy  of  the  Antille-,  to 
give  them  a  more  respectable  international  standing. 
Stipulations  should  be  agreed  upon  with  them  as  to  open 
ports  and  the  freedom  of  business  enterprise  with'n  their 
borders,  affording  all  possible  commercial  facilities. 
Missionary  effort  in  the  largest  sense,  as  to  the  develop- 
ment of  popular  education  and  of  other  civilizing  agen- 
cies, as  well  as  abundant  charity  in  case  of  need,  will  on 
our  part  not  be  wanting,  and  all  this  will  help  to  miti- 
gate their  disorderly  tendencies  and  to  steady  their  gov- 
ernments. 

Thus  we  shall  be  their  best  friends  without  being 
their  foreign  rulers.  We  shall  have  done  our  duty  to 
tliem,  to  ourselves,  and  to  the  world.  However  imper- 
fect their  governments  may  still  remain,  they  will  at 
least  be  their  own,  and  they  will  not  with  their  disorders 
and  corruptions  contaminate  our  institutions,  the  integ- 
rity of  which  is  not  only  to  ourselves,  but  to  liberty- 
loving  mankind,  the  most  important  concern  of  ail.  We 
may  then  await  the  result  with  generous  patience — with 
the  same  patience  with  which  for  many  years  we  v/it- 
nessed  the  revolutionary  disorders  of  Mexico  on  our  very 
borders,  without  any  thought  of  taking  her  government 
into  our  own  hands. 

Ask  yourselves  whether  a  policy  like  this  will  not 
raise  the  American  people  to  a  level  of  moral  greatness 
never  before  attained!  If  this  democracy,  after  all  the 
intoxication  of  triumph  in  war,  conscientiously  remem- 
bers its  professions   and  pledges,    and.  soberly  reflects 


34 

on  its  duties  to  itself  and  others,  and  then  dehberately 
resists  the  temptation  of  conquest,  it  will  achieve  the 
grandest  triumph  of  the  democratic  idea  that  history- 
knows  of.  It  will  give  the  government  of,  for,  and  by 
the  people  a  prestige  it  never  before  possessed.  It  will 
render  the  cause  of  civilization  throughout  the  world  a 
service  without  parallel.  It  will  put  its  detractors  to 
shame,  and  its  voice  will  be  heard  in  the  council  of 
nations  with  more  sincere  respect  and  more  deference 
than  ever.  The  American  people,  having  given  proof 
of  their  strength  and  also  of  their  honesty  and  wisdom, 
will  stand  infinitely  mightier  before  the  world  than  any 
number  of  subjugated  vassals  could  make  them.  Are 
not  here  our  best  interests,  both  moral  and  m-aterial  ? 
Is  not  this  genuine  glory  ?  Is  not  this  true  patriotism  ? 
I  call  upon  all  who  so  believe  never  to  lose  heart  in 
the  struggle  for  this  great  cause,  whatever  odds  may 
seem  to  be  against  us.  Let  there  be  no  pusillanimous 
yielding  while  the  final  decision  is  still  in  the  balance. 
Let  us  relax  no  effort  in  this,  the  greatest  crisis  the 
republic  has  ever  seen.  Let  us  never  cease  to  invoke 
the  good  sense,  the  honesty,  and  the  patriotic  pride  of 
the  people.  Let  us  raise  high  the  flag  of  our  country — 
not  as  an  emblem  of  reckless  adven.ure  and  greedy  con- 
qiiest,  of  betrayed  professions  and  broken  pledges,  of 
criminal  aggressions  and  arbitrary  nile  over  subject 
populations — but  the  old,  the  true  flag,  the  flag  of  George 
Washington  and  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  flag  of  the 
government  of,  for,  and  by  the  people  ;  the  flag  of 
national  faith  held  sacred  and  of  national  honor  unsullied ; 
the  flag  of  human  rights  and  of  good  example  to  all 
nations  ;  the  flag  of  true  civilization,  peace,  and  good- 
will to  all  men.  Under  it  let  us  stand  to  the  last,  what- 
ever betide. 


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